Overnight admitted patient care occurs when the patient is admitted and separated on different days (stays at least 1 night). This section reports on overnight acute care (referred to as overnight care), where the care was not for rehabilitation or other non-acute care (which comprised 5.7% of overnight separations).
In 2011-12, 40% of separations (3.7 million) were for overnight acute care. This included 2.6 million public hospital separations and 1.1 million private hospital separations.
Between 2007-08 and 2011-12, the number of overnight acute separations increased, on average, by 3.0% per year for public hospitals, and by 2.1% per year for private hospitals.
Who used these services?
Indigenous Australians were hospitalised overnight at about twice the rate for other Australians.
Persons usually resident in Very remote areas had 261 overnight acute separations per 1,000 population, compared with 157 per 1,000 nationwide.
Separation rates varied by socioeconomic status, from 133 per 1,000 population for the highest SES group to 175 per 1,000 for the lowest SES group.
How urgent was the care?
About 52% of overnight acute separations were for emergency care, 37% were for elective care and about 11% were other planned care (not assigned).
Why did people receive this care?
The most common principal diagnoses for overnight acute separations were:
- childbirth (about 274,000 separations)
- pain in the throat and chest (almost 75,000 separations)
- sleep disorders (67,000 separations)
- pneumonia (60,000 separations).
What care was provided?
In public hospitals, about 66% of overnight acute separations were for medical care (including specialist mental health).
In private hospitals, about 54% of overnight acute separations were for surgical care.
How long did patients stay?
The average length of stay for overnight acute separations was 5.0 days for public hospitals and 4.6 days for private hospitals.
The average lengths of stay for medical care and childbirth were greater in private hospitals than in public hospitals. For surgical and other care, average lengths of stay were notably higher in public hospitals (Figure 34).
Who paid for the care?
In public hospitals, almost 83% of overnight acute separations were public patients.
In private hospitals, private health insurance funded about 84% of overnight acute separations.
International comparisons
The number of overnight separations per 1,000 population in Australia for 2011-12 was in the middle of the range reported for other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in recent years (Figure 35) (OECD 2012).
The comparability of international separation rates is likely to be affected by differences in definitions of hospitals, collection periods and in admission practices.